USA Today Switching to Mail Delivery in County

Citing prohibitive costs, USA Today is phasing out the paperboy and ushering in the mailman to deliver the paper to its almost 3,000 Orange County subscribers.

In a letter to area subscribers, the national newspaper said, "In order to provide better service to our customers in this area, USA Today will now be delivered the same day it is published . . . by your local mail carrier."

According to USA Today's regional general manager, Gerald Kane, the switch to mail delivery began in mid-November and will be completed in three to four weeks. Some area customers, angered over receiving the paper later in the day instead of first thing in the morning, have canceled their subscriptions.

'Early Morning' Read

"My purpose in getting USA Today is to get an early morning quick read," said Leslie Kelly, a Huntington Beach free-lance writer and photographer who canceled his six-month subscription this week.

"I told them that I have no interest in getting it in the mail . . . . By the time it came, I would have learned what I wanted to know by reading it elsewhere."

Kane added that USA Today is considering the mail for its San Diego subscribers next.